I am uncomfortable asking people to do a favor for me, let alone asking them to give me something. Can I borrow your car? Can you loan me some money? These requests are not in my vocabulary.

So when I see people standing at the freeway off-ramp holding a ragged piece of cardboard asking for spare change, I cringe. Not because I feel that person is imposing on my personal values, but because I empathize with people who are so desperate for help they must resort to begging on the streets.

Standing on a street corner with a plea for help scrawled on a scrap of cardboard announces to the world that you are so poor you need a handout. Who wants to broadcast their desperation and open themselves up to the scorn of their neighbors? Who wants to advertise the fact that they can’t afford rent, or even their next meal?

It’s embarrassing. Other people driving by with their late-model German sedans glare like the people on the corner are asking to move into their spare bedroom for free. All they really want is some change to purchase their next meal.

So they stand on the corner, ashamed and vulnerable. Holding onto a sign that broadcasts the hard times onto which they have fallen, knowing that passersby think they’re alcoholics, criminals, or just lazy.

But, when you think about it, the organizations working to help those people who are forced to beg on our streets really aren’t that different.

We, the benevolent caretakers of people hurting on the streets, do our own form of panhandling. We send out letters asking for money. We tweet and post our stories on Facebook, hoping they will inspire people to give a few dollars. We talk about the people we serve with generous philanthropists, with the goal of receiving a big check.

We, the service providers, do an awful lot of begging ourselves. The only difference is that we don’t do it on the streets, or from a place of vulnerability or weakness.

But perhaps we should. Perhaps those of us who are working to end homelessness should walk in the shoes of the people we want to empower. Maybe we should hold ragged cardboard signs on street corners, so those who are truly hurting don’t have to.

I believe a paradox about teaching a man to fish. At this point, it will involve full state support to give them skills and have them work a job so as to let themselves be sustainable. But that model is not so easily encompassed.

I really do understand your feelings. Having come from really awful conditions myself, I do know the feeling you are describing. I hope there is something more that can be done for these people; other than the contributions alone. They need to be empowered to sustain.

Author -
Joel John Roberts is the CEO of PATH Partners (People Assisting The Homeless), publisher of Poverty Insights, blogger on Huffington Post, frequent writer of opinion pieces on homelessness and housing, and the author of the book, "How To Increase Homelessness."